1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multilayered electronic element and, more particularly, to a multilayered electronic element having a plurality of opposing internal electrodes arranged in a ceramic body.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There is a growing trend in multilayered electronic elements toward reducing their size and increasing their capacitance by the use of thinner and multilayered internal electrodes and ceramic sheets. One of the conventional multilayered electronic elements is the multilayered capacitor composed of ceramic sheets of barium titanate and internal electrodes of noble metal (such as Pt, Pd, and Ag/Pd). For cost savings, internal electrodes of noble metal are being replaced by those of base metal such as Ni and Cu.
The disadvantage of internal electrodes of base metal is that base metal partly diffuses into the ceramics body to form oxides therein. Since the distance of diffusion is less than 3% of the interval between the internal electrodes, diffusion has no effect at all so long as the ceramics layer between internal electrodes is comparatively thick. However, in the case where the ceramics layer is thinner than about 10 .mu.m, diffusion poses a problem in that it causes a decrease in insulation resistance and variations in capacitance and temperature characteristics. This problem has not been solved yet because it is difficult to control the effect of diffusion which manifests itself within 3% of the interval between internal electrodes.